Starter-coupling.



F. B. WILLIAMS.

STARTER COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 24. 1915.

1,226,933. Patented May 22, 1917.

Fziy. 4. 5.

IN VEN TOR. WITNESSES M FEED B.\/\/lLl lAl 15.

M ATTO UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED B. WILLIAMS, F HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 SPLITDORF ELECTRICAL COMIEANY, 0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

STARTER-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 1917.

Application filed November 24, 1915. Serial No. 63,209.

To all whom it may concern:

' the rotative speed is usually very low, particularly when the engine is going over compression, at which time the charge should be fired, Where the ignition is from a magneto on account of this low rotative speed at the time when the spark is required, the same is very Weak or no spark at all is produced.

In order to overcome this difiiculty at the time of starting and still retain the magneto for ignition purposes, I have provided means whereby the magneto armature will be thrown forward at a high rate of speed independent of the slow speed at which the engine is turned. By my invention it is possible to easily start any engine no matter how large it may be or by what means it is turned directly from the magneto, for by the use of my device the magneto will give a spark when the engine goes over compression, no matter how slowly, equal to the spark produced when the engine is running,

, at high speed.

Another object of my invention is to provide a coupling device which will be noiseless in operation and one that will be cheap to manufacture and easy to assemble.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for automatically putting out of commission that portion of the device which acts on a member of the coupling to give the result hereinbefore stated.

Other and further objects of my invention will be apparent to anyone skilled in the art after reading the specification with referenceto the attached drawing, which forms a part thereof, wherein:

Figure 1 is an end view of the starter coupling as applied to a magneto, only a portion of the magneto being shown.

Fig.- 2 is a plan view of the driven member of the coupling, the driving member being removed and means being shown to pro vide for the assembly of the driving member to the driven member.

place.

Fig. 3 is a view of the driving member as it is taken off the driven member.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 2 with the spring removed.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a pawlused in connection with the coupling.

Fig. 7 is an end View of'the pawl carrier shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the retaining spring used for holding the pawl of Fig. 6 out of engagement with the coupling.

Referring now particularly to the drawings, 1 illustrates the base of the magneto. 2 is the end plate of the magneto, which has a shaft 3 upon which the coupling is mounted. The starter coupling consists of two armature members, the driven member 4 and the driving member 5. The driven member 4 has a recess 6, which preferably is slightly concaved at the bottom. Two flanges 7 and 8 are provided on the member 4 and these flanges co-act with flanges 9 and 10 on the driving member 5; that is, the rim of flange 9 fits around the outer portion of the flange 7 and the flange 10 fits around the flange 8, hence the driving member 5 is guided in position as relative movement takes place between the driving and driven members as will be hereinafter pointed out.

Securely fastened to the driven member 4 and across the recess 6 is a stud 11. Against the stud 11 is placed a short but relatively stifl spring 12 which I term a buffer spring, the purpose of whichwill be hereinafter pointed out. Against the other side of the stud 11 rests one end of the spring 13 which I term the driving spring. The other end of this spring normally rests against the stud 14 that is mounted within the recess 15 of the driving member 5. One end of the buffer spring 12 rests against the stud 14. In order to get the stud 14 in between the drivingspring 13 and the buffer spring 12 during the process of assembling, I have provided a hole 16 into which is inserted a pin 17, before the spring 13 is assembled in After the spring 13 is inserted in position as shownin Fig. 2,,it will be noted 1 a that a space 18 is left between the pin 17 and the end of the buffer spring 12, which is slightly greater than the width of the stud 14. The driving member can now be put in place, the flanges 7,8, 9 and-10 centering and locating the driving member. The pin 17 is then removed and the coupling is in operative position, assuming, of course, that the driven member 4 is keyed to the magneto shaft by means of keys inserted in the keyways 19. The channel 20 across the outer flange of the driving member 5 is used for the purpose of engaging a coupling of the Cardan type that is keyed to the driving shaft, or a gear wheel may be attached to the driving member 5 by means of the screw holes 21 and this gear driven by another gear connected to some shaft driven by the engine. Mounted on the magneto base 1 is a pawl carrier 22 that supports pawl 23, the same being pivoted to carrier 24. Spring 25 is also attached to pawl carrier 22, the end 26 of which engages the end 27 of the pawl 23 when the pawl is thrown downward by the coupling members. A notch 28 is cut in the outer surface of the driven member 4 for the purpose of engaging the hook 29 of the pawl 23. The surface of the driven member 4 is beveled off from the edge of the notch 28 as indicated at 30, so that the surface 30 comes below the outer periphery of the driven member 4. The purpose of this will be explained later.

In operation the device works as follows:

The pawl 23 is set in operative position by pressing upon the free end of the pawl or if it is desired to be operated at a more distant point, a small chain may be attached as indicated at 31, as shown in Fig. 1. The engine is now turned and both members of the coupling move with it until the hook 29 of the pawl 23 engages the notch 28 in the driven member 4. The rotation of the driven member is thereby interrupted and consequently the armature of the magneto is held stationary. The driving member continues on until one of the cam surfaces 32 engages the hook 29 of the pawl 23 which laps beyond the surface of the driven member 4 and ushes the hook out of the notch 28. It Wll be seen that the spring 13 is compressed so that when the driven member 4 is released, the armature to which it is attached is thrown forward at a high rate of speed and on account of the rapid movement of the magnetic lines with relation to the armature a heavy spark is produced. It will be here noted that as the driven member 4 moves rapidly forward to its normal position, the stop 14 strikes against the end of the buffer spring 12 thereby absorbing the shock of the blow and producing a substantially noiseless operation of the coupling. Should the engine not fire on the first compression, the pawl 23 remains in operative position so that the notch 28 is engaged again and the operation above described is repeated until the engine starts. The hook 29 of the pawl 23 runs normally on the outer surface of the driven member 4 and drops into the notch 28 as already explained. However, when a certain predetermined speed of the engine is reached, hook 29 of the pawl 23 will not fall far enough below the outer periphery 33 of the driven member 4 to engage the notch 28 but will hit on the flattened surface 30. The pawl 23 is so constructed and mounted that its inertia will produce this result. lVhen the speed increases slightly beyond this predetermined point, the rapidity of the blows struck on the end of the pawl 23 will finally cause it to be moved about its pivot 24 with sufficient force so that the end 27 will be thrown below the hook 26 of the spring 25 and the pawl will thus be held away from the coupling member.

It will be understood that I construct the driving spring 13 so that in normal position there is substantially no give to it and hence no lost motion between the driving and driven members, which would be detrimental to its action.

It will also be understood that numerous changes and alterations may be made in the details without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination of a driven member having radially spaced outer and inner flanges, a driving member having radially spaced outer and inner flanges adapted to cooperate with said flanges on said driven member, a recess in said driven member, yielding means cir cumferentially arranged between the flanges of the driven member but drivingly associated with said driving member, means for arresting the movement of the driven member, means for releasing said driven member after a predetermined displacement of the driving member and yielding means Within said driven member to receive the impact between the driving and driven members when said driven member is released 2. In a starter coupling, a driving member, a driven member, an annular recess in said driven member, a stud fixed in position in said annular recess, a recess in said driving member and a stud fastened thereto in said recess, yieldingly driving means mounted within the recess of said driven member and having its ends normally resting against each of said studs, means for arresting the movement of said driven member, means for releasing said driven member and means positioned within the annular recess of said driven member and between said studs for absorbing the noise and shock of said driving and driven members when said driven member suddenly advances to normal position after being released from its arrested position.

3. In a starter coupling, adriving member having cam surfaces thereon, a driven member having an annular recess, a driving spring adapted to fit into said recess, a buffer spring adapted to fit into said recess, a stud mounted within said recess to separate said two springs at one end thereof, a stud mounted on said driving member and separating said springs at the other end, a notch in the outer surfaces of said driven member, a pawl associated with said member and adapted to engage said-notch to retard the movement of the driven member, said pawl adapted to be released from said notch by the cams on'said driving member whereby said driven member is caused to move rapidly forward under the control of the driving spring until said forward movement is stopped by said buffer spring, for the purpose described.

.4. In a device. of, the character described, the combination of a driven member having an annular recess therein, a stud mounted on said driven member and forming a bridge across said annular recess, a driving spring and'a bufler spring reposing in said recess and resting against the opposite faces of said stud, a hole passing radially through the rim of the driven member into said annular recess, a driving member having a recess and a stud attached to said driving member within said recess, and a pin applicable to said hole in the driven member and adapted to separate the ends of the driving and buffer springs leaving a space therebetween, where by when the driving and driven members are assembled said stud on the driving member passes 'freely into said space between the driving and buffer springs of the driven member.

5. In a starter coupling, a driven member yieldingly connected to a driving member, a notch on the surface of said driven memher, a pawl adapted to engage said notch to hold the driven member from moving until pawl will not engage the notch after a predetermined speed is reached, and means whereby the pawl is locked in an inoperative position when the speed has reached a value greater than said predetermined speed.

6. In a starter coupling, a driven member adapted to be connected to -the sparking device, a notch in the outer surface of said driven member, a. pawl adapted to be placed in position to engage said notch to interrupt the forward movement of the driven mem her, a coil spring adapted to be tensioned by the driving member when the forward movement of the driven member is interrupted, cam surfaces on said driving member to engage said pawl to force it out of engagement with said notch whereby the driven member is thrown forward at a high rate of speed by said coil spring, and means for throwing the pawl away from operative engagement with the driven member at a predetermined speed and means for locking said pawl in the last mentioned position, when a speed greater than'said predetermined speed has been reached.

7. In a device of the character described, the combination of a driven member having an annular recess therein, and a stud mounted on said member within said recess, a

buffer spring resting against one side of said stud and a driving spring resting against the opposite side of said stud, a driving member having a recess and a stud attached to said member within said recess and means applicable to said driven member for separating the driving and buffer springs whereby said driving member can be assembled in position onto the driven member.

8. Ina device of the character described, the combination of adriven member having an annular recess therein, a stop stud attached to said driven member within said recess, a driving spring abutting against one side of said stud and a buffer spring abutting against the other side of said stud, a driving member having a recess and a stud mounted within said recess and adapted to work between said driving and buffer springs, a notch in the outer surface of said driven member, a flat on said surface at the edge of said notch, a pawl for engaging said notch to arrest the movement of the driven member, cam surfaces on said driving member for releasing said pawl from said notch after a predetermined forward movement of the driving member, said buffer spring serving to receive the shock produced by the driven member. when it suddenly overtakes the driving member, said flat surface adjacent to the notch being adapted to receive the nose of said pawl, throwing it into inoperative position after a predetermined speed of the driven member is reached, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In witness whereof, I afiix my signature.

FRED B. WVILLIAMS. 

